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Page 17 text:
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THE FIGHT FOR FREE EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA The first half century of our National history the population was largely rural, railways were just beginning, canals were scarce, and roads were few and poor. About 1820, old occupa- tions increased their demands, and new ones were constantly aris- ing. There was a natural concentration of wealth and population in the cities and towns that were advantageously situated. Before 1830, there was an inrush of laborers of all kinds. Unskilled la- borers often worked for $ .50 to $ .75 a day. City life produced changes. Many boys and girls worked in factories when they should have been in school. In 1829, organizations of working men in Philadelphia asked each candidate for a formal statement as to his attitude toward “an equal and general system of education.’’ The Leaders in these movements saw that free public education was the greatest blessing that could be given the poorer classes and that it offered practically the only means of advancement for those without wealth. The Pennsylvania Society was organized in 1827 for the pro- motion of Public Schools. A report from the society three years later stated that not one pupil in three, of school age, was getting any education at all. This society kept up vigorous activity for free schools for several years. In the Legislative Session of 1830-1831, Governor Wolf strong- ly advocated some provision for free public schools. Bills provid- ing for a system of public education were introduced in both houses in 1831, but they failed to pass in either. A bill did pass, how- ever, providing a Common School Fund. In 1834, this bill was stated as follows: 1. Section One provided that each County of the Common- wealth should form a school division, and that every ward, town- ship and borough, should form a school district. 2. The Second and Third Section fixed the number of school directors and the manner of their election.
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Page 18 text:
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Iff 3. Sections Four, Five, and Seven, provided for annual meet- ings of the County Commissioners and a representative of each School Board in the County. 4. Sections Eight, Nine, and Eleven defined the powers and duties of School Directors in locating and building schools, hiring teachers, and attending to many other details. 5. Section Ten provided for school visits by the Board and annual reports to the District Inspectors. 6. Sections Eleven to Fifteen, inclusive, provided for the ap- pointment annually by the Court of Quarter Session in each County or district of two inspectors of the public schools whose duty was to examine and certify teachers, visit each school at least once in three months, and report conditions to the Superintendent of Public Schools. 7. Section Sixteen made the Secretary of the Commonwealth Superintendent of Public Schools and defined his duties. In September, 1834, efforts were made to repeal this law. The aristocrats felt that education should be only for the better people, the well-born or wealthy. Many people in rural surround- ings could see no practical use for education. Both houses of the Legislature, which met December 2, 1834, seemed to be in the hands of the enemies of public education, and these forces lost no time in presenting bills ranging from merely amending the Act of 1834 to its complete repeal and return to the Pauper Act of 1809. The Senate was in favor of the repeal. In the House there was at no time a clear majority in favor of the repeal of the Act of 1834. When efforts to accept the Senate Bill repealing the Act of 1834 failed, every sort of amendment was re- sorted to in an effort to destroy the force of the measure. All such amendments were voted down by the free school men. Since the date of final adjournment had been set, there was no time for presenting a new measure. The fight for the principle of State-controlled free education had at last been won.
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